The biggest downside to flaps is that they are hard to train for,
since there are few two-seaters that have them. And too many gliders
that do have them (I'm looking at you, SGS 1-35), don't have enough of
them, so it's too easy to float down the runway. Flaps that go to only
60 degrees aren't enough; it takes at least 85 to reliably kill the
float and get onto the ground with authority.

Bob I've got to send you a picture of the NG-1 with full flaps out. In
fact I need to shoot some landings in it sometime and get some photos
of it from the ground. That thing is impressive! I'm pretty sure the
handle is limited to about 60 degrees or so but that is more than
enough flap. In fact it takes about all the strength in my left arm
to get that much flap at a typical 60 mph approach speed. The flaps
are the same as a BG-12/16 and run from the root to the aileron. On
the few full flap approaches i've done SeeYou has shown an L/D of
somewhere around 5.